Harry awoke the next day feeling nervous, yet excited to start his schooling at Hogwarts. He would only be here for two years, starting with his sixth year, but that didn't dampen his excitement. Two years was enough for him. He had been told by his various tutors that he was already well beyond what sixth and seventh years were taught, but learning was not why he was here. He was here to make friends and allies for the coming storm that was soon to hit England.

He would be needed in many ways when that storm hit, and Harry wasn't sure he was ready. He had been trained for this singular storm his entire life, but still he was unsure if he was ready to brace it. He did his best to put that thought out of his mind, but it always found a way to creep back in and sour his day.

Harry pushed himself out of bed and his bare feet connected with the cold floor. He hissed at the feeling and quickly found his clothes to throw on. The sun was just beginning to rise which meant there was still a few hours before class. He slowly moved around the dorm room, making sure he didn't wake up his new dormmates. They had asked him hundreds of questions last night until his head began to swim and demand rest. Still, there were many more questions they could ask him which made him eager to leave before they awoke.

Harry walked down to the common room where he found Hermione sitting on the couch in front of a smoldering fire. She turned abruptly to the noise of his footsteps coming down the stairs. "Hello." Harry said awkwardly. It was just the two of them in the common room. He wondered why she was up so early, or if this was normal for her.

"Hello." She responded just as awkwardly as him.

Harry walked over and sat down in a nearby chair, relaxing back into it. She was caught between looking at him and a small book in her lap. "Hermione Granger, right?" Harry asked her eventually. She nodded her head. "I have heard you're the smartest witch in Hogwarts since Lily Evans."

Hermione fidgeted in her chair as her cheeks turned red. "I wouldn't say that. Everyone compares me to her. I've seen all the awards she won at school, but I haven't won any." She looked up briefly from her book. "You've heard of her?"

Harry laughed, "She's my mother." Hermione's eyes grew wide. "Haven't followed the stories of my past have you?" She shook her head. "It's okay. Not many of those stories are true anyways."

"What happened? After that night, I mean." Hermione asked quickly. She looked surprised at her own question which only made Harry chuckle more.

"My godfather took me away. He hid me from Voldemort's followers." Harry said. He noticed that she didn't flinch of the Dark Lord's name. "I obviously don't remember any of it, but I was told that I had moved around for many months before eventually settling down off the coast of Greece."

"I watched the Headmaster when your named was called. He didn't seem surprised that you were here." She paused for a moment and her eyebrows furrowed. "Neither did Professor McGonagall now that I think of it."

Harry nodded, "Smartest witch of our age." She chuckled which brought a smile to Harry's lips. He had spent so little time with other people his age, he forgot what it felt like. Most of the girls he had been around were far too inside their own world to ever get a word in. It didn't help that he couldn't be himself around them either, always sticking to false names. "Dumbledore helped to hide me. Professor McGonagall tutored me in Transfiguration from a young age, as well as Professor Flitwick in dueling and charms. Snape helped me in potions and my godfather taught me Dark Arts. Though this is my first time at Hogwarts, my schooling has been thorough."

Her eyes widened at the amount of names Harry told her. She was hardly expecting him to have been personally taught by the many teachers she had come to respect and want to be upon older age. Part of her felt jealous at the notion that it was him who received such schooling and not her. She forced the thought out of her head. It wasn't her parents that had been murdered, it wasn't her that had been forced on the run at one year's old.

"You've mentioned him twice now. Who is your godfather?" She asked.

Harry leaned forward in his chair and looked around, making sure there weren't any others. "Are you good at keeping secrets, Miss Granger?"

"I-I don't know." She stammered, not expecting his question. "I suppose so."

He smiled at her and leaned back, satisfied with the answer. "Sirius Black." Her eyes widened as he suspected they would. "He isn't the mass murderer like others try and portray him as." It wasn't actually a secret Harry cared to keep, just one he thought might avalanche to something more once Hermione told someone of it.

"He raised you? But he is…" Her voice trailed off and her eyes went distant. They refocused quickly, "Why doesn't he clear his name?"

Harry laughed, "Justice in this world is far more difficult to obtain."

"But surely-" She began.

"It isn't a big deal. If you knew my godfather, you'd realize why." Harry cut her off. She didn't seem convinced but she didn't say anything in return.

Harry stood up and held his hand out to Hermione. She looked at it confusedly. "Come on. You owe me a quick tour of the castle, and seeing as we're the only one's up, we may as well do it now."

She hesitated a moment before closing her book and placing it on the table in front of her. She took his hand and stood up. Harry grinned at her and dropped her hand as he headed for the door. "Where do you want to start?" She responded with a smile of her own. Harry walked out of the door and onto the Grand Staircase.

He looked around. "How about the Quidditch Pitch. I've been told there is one. Do you like to fly?" He asked her.

She shook her head and a tinge of red came across her cheeks. "No, I'm afraid of heights."

"Hmm." Harry grunted. She began to lead him down the staircase. "That's a shame. I've never felt more free while in the air. Is your thing books? I think every time I've seen you, you have had a book in your hands."

She blushed even more. "My friends joke that the library is my favorite place in the school."

Harry chuckled, "Well, is it?"

She looked at him. "Is what?"

"The library your favorite place? Nothing wrong with that." Harry said earnestly.

She stayed quiet for a moment. They continued down the staircase, passing by the third and then the second floor hallways. Soon they were to reach the Entrance Hall. "I guess so." She shrugged eventually. "is Quidditch your favorite thing?" She asked after stepping onto the landing and walking passed the Great Hall doors. Both of them glanced inside and found the hall to be empty. They hadn't run into anyone along the way either. It was like the two of them were the only ones awake in the entire castle.

Harry shrugged. "I guess so." Both of them laughed as they stepped out into the refreshing morning air. The sun was beginning its climb into the sky, and the golden light reflected brilliantly off the Black Lake. The scenery around them was truly something to behold. He could easily get used to living here for a while, just as his parents had once done. The thought of walking the same grounds they had sent a calm wave through him. For once he felt at home.

They walked near the forbidden Forest, watching the forest for any small thing that scurried between bushes and dead leaves. She told him of the time Hagrid had taken her and Ron out here for detention, how they had run into a pack of centaurs who roamed these woods. As they continued on, she began to tell him of the Quidditch games, how Gryffindor had been the best team the last several years. Ron was the captain and the keeper of the team, Ginny Weasley, his younger sister whom Harry had met in the carriage last night, was a star seeker. She talked with a smile on her face and a calmness in her voice which put Harry greatly at ease as they walked together beside the trees.

They eventually made it to the Quidditch Pitch which stood proud against the hills just behind it. To the other side of the Pitch was a large grass field where Hermione explained had once been a maze for the TriWizard Tournament. Harry had heard of it. Dumbledore told him all about the old Tournament which had been brought back. Beauxbatons and Durmstrang had graced Hogwart's halls for the year and three students competed against one another. Viktor Krum and Fleur Delacour if he remembered correctly, as well as a Hufflepuff named Cedric Diggory. Cedric had eventually won after some questionable things happened inside the maze which resulted in Fleur being knocked unconscious and Viktor being imperioused. There was much speculation if Cedric had won unfairly, but simply put, there were virtually no rules in the competition, and so Cedric was given the trophy.

Harry had lost track of what Hermione had been saying when he was brought back into the conversation by a name. "Fleur works in England now, last time I heard. I think she's dating Bill, Ron's older brother."

"What's that?" Harry asked. He had met Fleur once when he was much smaller. He remembered having a crush on the older, French witch. But who could blame him. He was young and she was part veela. They had only spoken briefly at an art gala in Marseille. Sirius had introduced him to Sebastien Delacour, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, France, and a good friend of Sirius' since before he became a suspected murderer. Sebastien's family had accompanied him to the gala and he could still remember the first time he laid eyes on the part veela. It wasn't every day you got to meet a veela, and the books he had read about them definitely didn't do them justice.

"Bill Weasley?" Harry asked after a quick moment.

Hermione nodded. "I think so. At least that was what Ron was bragging about on the train. Small world, huh?"

"Small world." Harry mumbled. They fell silent for a moment before Harry glanced around and realized it was nearing breakfast. "We should probably head back. We've been out quite a while now."

Hermione realized they probably had been out too long as well. They began their walk back to the castle. They passed by the greenhouses along the way where Hermione told him of the mandrakes they had harvested her second year, and in the same year a basilisk had attacked the school. Dumbledore had told him of this as well. It was another attempt by Voldemort to regain his power, one that Dumbledore stopped from happening. The Chamber of Secrets was real, hidden in a girl's bathroom of all places. The thought made Harry appreciate Slytherin's cunning even more.

"Being frozen like that was one of the worst things I've ever experienced." Hermione said.

"You were petrified?" Harry asked.

"Not for long. The school had already been brewing the antidote. But it was uncomfortable nonetheless." She said somewhat cheerfully.

"That must have been scary." Harry said. They were nearing the Entrance Hall now, and Harry could begin to hear sounds from inside as students had woken up hungry and were looking to the Great Hall for comfort.

Hermione laughed. "It wasn't as bad as waking up at the bottom of the Black Lake. I still can't believe Viktor had chosen me for that task." Harry looked at her confusedly, so she continued describing the second task of the TriWizard tournament. They walked into the Entrance Hall and immediately made for the Great Hall. Many students were giving them odd looks as they walked in, none of which Hermione had noticed as she continued to talk. Harry was however, very aware of the strange looks, mostly those from Gryffindor table and Ron in particular.

They walked over and took their places beside Ron and opposite Ginny and Neville. "Where were you two?" Ron asked quickly. Harry could easily detect a hint of jealousy in his voice, something everyone else could detect as well.

"I was showing Harry around the castle as he had asked me to and we were the only one's up." Hermione said. Harry let her handle the small situation since she knew him better than probably anyone in this school. It was clear from the times she mentioned Ron in their conversations that there was something there and he wasn't going to try anything to ruin it.

Ron grunted and turned back to piling food onto his plate. Harry took it as sign he was satisfied enough with the answer. "Mr. Potter." Professor McGonagall walked up to him with a folded piece of parchment. Harry noticed that it was the same parchment that many others had in their hands. She handed him it, then handed a similar piece of parchment to Hermione.

"Thank you, professor." Harry said absently as he unfolded the parchment and began to read. "Not as bad as I thought." He murmured to himself.

"What was that?" Ginny asked him. She seemed quite interested in his classes. When Harry looked up, he noticed that a great deal of people around him were interested in what classes he was taking.

"Oh, um." Harry began, not having expected his classes to be a hot discussion amongst the students. "I'm just taking the core classes." He honestly didn't know how many classes Dumbledore was enrolling him in. It seems Dumbledore was merciful with him and enrolled him in the bare minimum.

"Just the core classes?" Ron asked. "Why can't I do that?"

"Because Ronald, those classes look good once you're out of school." Hermione said.

Ron rolled his eyes. "If Harry Potter doesn't need them, I don't need them." He made to stand up and talk to Professor McGonagall but Hermione shoved him back into his seat with considerable strength. "You will take them, or I'll send a letter to your mother."

Ron's eyes widened. "You wouldn't."

"No, but I definitely would." Ginny laughed. Ron cursed under his breath and went back to eating. The bell to sound the start of classes rang through the castle. Students began to stand up from their tables and head out the door. Harry had charms first thing in the morning with the rest of the sixth years who had qualified for it. Harry had already tested out charms, already having a passing N.E.W.T. in the class, but he wasn't here to learn of course. The students around him were why he was here, and more importantly, the students who sat in green and silver on the far side of the room. They were why he was here. His eyes briefly caught the back of a pale blonde boy walking out with a large group of other Slytherin's. It was going to be an interesting year here at Hogwarts.

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